Siblings
by YoshiStack
Summary: Ulrich didn't have siblings, and he suspected he probably never would. But who said siblings had to be related by blood? Now a collection of oneshots!
1. Chapter 1

Ulrich had always liked the idea of having a sibling. Someone he could pick on, take care of, be responsible for. One of his uncles was the father of three children, and though an age gap was present, they all three seemed genrally close.

Maybe he wouldn't feel as lonely all the time.

When Ulrich was five he finally mustered up the courage to ask his parents about it.

"Why don't I have any brothers or sisters?" He'd asked during breakfast one morning. His parents, although far from talkative, suddenly grew quiet. His mother in particular looked visibly upset by the question.

"Because you don't," is what his father answered, his voice gruffer than usual.

"But wh-"

"I won't repeat myself!" His father boomed over him, making both Ulrich and his mother flinch. His dad let out a sigh and rubbed his temple. "Finish your breakfast. You have piano lessons at 9:30,"

And that had been the end of that.

Ulrich didn't think much of the idea of siblings much after that. Through his own eventual reasonings, the chances of it happening were slim to none anyway, so why bother thinking about it? By the time he'd enrolled at Kadic, he barely even remembered ever asking about it.

Then he met Aelita.

He admittedly, didn't think much of her first. He felt just as strongly as Yumi or Odd in the want to see her materialized, and considered her a friend, but little beyond that. It wasn't until she was back on Earth for good that their bond formed. He wasn't sure what it was about her, whether it was her genuinely innocent naiveté or the lost, puppy dog like look she wore on her first few trips Earth, but something about her brought out his protective nature.

It was one of her first days at Kadic, during lunch that it really showed. She and Odd appeared in front of him with their trays in hand. She smiled upon seeing him, as if she hadn't just spent the last several hours in classrooms with him.

"Hey. Enjoying your first real day of classes?" He asked.

"Yes, very much," she affirmed. A sheepish expression overcame her face. "It's still all a bit overwhelming though. I'm not sure how you all do it everyday,"

"Heh, no one said we were good at it," Odd laughed. "Anyway, enjoy the experiences while you can, Princess, cause the routine gets old pretty fast,"

"Then I'll be sure to take in as much as I can," she smiled.

"Hey, where's Jeremy?" Ulrich then asked. The blond genius was nowhere in sight, but he could definitely remember seein him in class.

Odd gave a strange wave. "Oh, you know Einstein. Always raring to work whenever he can on Lyoko stuff,"

"He's trying to make some headway on my antivirus," Aelita elaborated. "Although I do hope he doesn't work himself as bad as he did with my materialization. The amount if times he was up pas-"

"Well, if it isn't Kadic's newest brainiac," A shrill voice cut in. Aelita was startled, to the point that she almost dropped her fork. One look at who it was and Ulrich groaned.

"Go away, Sissi," he said tiredly.

She gave him a smirk. "I hardly think it's a crime to want to get to know Kadic's newest student. Why, our dorms are next to each other but we've hardly spoken at all. Why is that exactly?" She gave Aelita an uncomfortably close stare.

Aelita squirmed. "Well, uh..."

"Because she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to," Odd said with a slight scowl.

"You don't have to answer for her, she can talk just like the rest of us," Sissi shot back. She returned her focus on Aelita as if Odd had never spoken in the first place. Her sickly sweet smile returned as well. "At least, I assume so. You didn't say much in Mrs. Hertz's class today. Say, what's your story anyway?"

"M-my what?"

Ulrich clenched the edge of the table tightly, his knuckles turning a hot white. "Back off, Sissi," he warned, straining to keep himself from growling at her. It was one thing to mess with him, Jeremy, or Odd, it was another matter entirely to mess with her. If Sissi heard, she gave no indication of it.

"Your story. Y'know, what you did before Kadic, your family, friends, your life? Everyone wants to know, you're quite the mystery," Sissi stopped for a moment and tilted her head. "And what's with the pink hair? That shade is so last spring."

"W-well-"

"What part of 'go away' do you not understand?" Odd said, glaring.

"Did you dye it? Figures you're just like your cousin, bad taste and all," Sissi sighed and shook her head. "I guess it's not entirely your fault. I'd probably just as bad off if I were related to Della-"

That was the last straw. He slammed a fist onto the table, scattering their utensils and creating a loud boom. The usual buzz of noise suddenly grew still as everyone began to stare at him. He didn't care though; they hardly mattered. His blood was boiling.

He kept his gaze low with a dark expression. "I'm not going to ask you again: buzz off, and leave us— _Aelita_ —alone," he all but snarled. "Or else,"

"Uh– oh! I think I hear my father calling me. Goodbye, Ulrich!" Sissi stammered before running off, her lunch long forgotten. Ulrich let his fist relax only after Sissi had left the cafeteria.

Odd stared for a moment in shock, then shook his head. "Hey, mind your own business! Nothing to see here! Go back to your food!" He shouted to the others still staring. The usual noises returned in full force after a few moments of them scrambling to tear their gaze from them.

Aelita, face red, looked down at her lap. "I, um... thank you, Ulrich," she stammered.

He nodded. "No problem. And be sure to tell me if she starts up again. She won't be for long if she does," he told her.

"Honestly, after that performance I'm not sure Sissi will come near you or Aelita ever again!" Odd said a grin. Ulrich allowed himself to lean back again.

"If only," he smirked. They both laughed, only stopping when he noticed Aelita looking a bit flustered. "You alright there, Aelita?"

"I... is it normal for my face to feel this warm?" She asked, her tone implying she knew how silly it sounded. Ulrich and Odd shared a look before cracking grins. Not out of enjoyment of her confusion, but out of Aelita being... well, Aelita.

"I dunno if I'd call it 'normal' there, Princess. But it does happen from time to time," Odd explained.

"You can ask Einstein about it later, but you're good," Ulrich assured her.

Yumi approached moments later with a confused look. "Did I miss something? Because I just saw Sissi running off to the dorms and she almost had a panic attack just looking at me," she asked as she sat down.

Ulrich, Odd, and even Aelita to an extent, all burst out into laughter again. And seeing Aelita getting progressively more comfortable with the conversation, he couldn't help but smile.

Ulrich was proud to see that very few dared to mess with Aelita after that. And their strange sort of relationship only grew affer that.

It wasn't growth in the most obvious ways, like how her relationship with Jeremy was, but it was there. Like how she started going to him more for answers for certain questions she had, usually pertaining with how to deal with certain other studemts in class, or about other skills that Jeremy wasn't good enough at to answer.

Or how some mornings she'd flock to his and Odd's dorm room, if only because she knew he wouldn't ask about the dark marks forming under her eyes. Or that when she did bring up the reasons, he would listen without interrupting once.

Or how she started to look over his work and made corrections, all while assuring him that, 'no, you're not an idiot, anyone could've made that mistake. This is how you really do it,.'

Ulrich didn't have siblings, and he suspected he probably never would.

But who said siblings had to be related by blood?

* * *

 **It's like, 2 in the morning, and I wanted to write about these two since the show hardly ever lets them intereact.**

 **Yes, they are my brotp. Deal with it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So... I was planning on this being a one and done deal.**

 **Keyword** **: planning.**

* * *

"And that's all there is to it," Aelita said, putting her pen down. She looked down at him with a proud sort of look, though whether or not it was intended for him, he wasn't entirely sure. He was too stunned to comprehend.

"How do you _do_ that?" He asked suddenly.

She raised a brow. "Really? I just showed you,"

"No, not that." He shook his head. "I mean, how do you remember it so easily?" He clarified, motioning to the paper that was filled with her markings. They were all steps to some complicated math equation that Ulrich was certain he would never use outside of physics class, and she remembered them all without even a glance at her notes.

And that wasn't the only time that ever happened. Outside of helping him study, he rarely ever saw Aelita studying anything beyond maybe Italian or maybe history. And she still somehow managed a 95 grade point average.

She gave a sad smirk. "Spending 10 years of your life inside a quantum computer does have its benefits,"

He snorted. "Gee, I'll have to try it some time." The smirk he had vanished completely when he saw the vacant look in her eyes. Her eyes, while not glazed over, were unfocused and staring at something beyond the desk in front of them. Ulrich decided to let the moment pass in silence, interrupted only by his pen clicking.

She jumped at one click about a minute later. She look around for a momentt, looked at Ulrich, then away again with a sheepish expression.

"Sorry," she muttered, fiddling a bit with some loose strands of hair. He let out a hum of acknowledgment. His fingers rapped loudly and rhythmically against the desk as a thought came to him.

"Do you ever wonder about it sometimes?" He asked suddenly.

"Wonder about what?" she asked quietly.

"About what your life would be like without the supercomputer?"

She was silent at that. She closed her eyes. "I..." she sighed. "Yeah, I really do. Does that sound bad?"

"No, it just means I don't have to call you out for lying," Ulrich commented, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

Aelita looked up towards the window with her brow furrowed. "How can I not think about it? It's played such a big part in my life and impacted it so much," she looked back down again, eyeing a picture that Ulrich had of the five of them on the desk. "Impacted all of our lives so much."

Kiwi popped his head out at that moment. One look toward Aelita and Kiwi was rushing to her, just waiting to be pet. She gave the mutt a small smile as she rubbed him behind his ears. He let out a content moan and closed his eyes, satisfied with the attention given to him.

Ulrich stared at the photo. It was a picture taken during his birthday. Odd had wanted a party, much to Ulrich's chagrin. It ended up not being so bad, just the five of them eating more sweets than they probably should've and playing some board games they had lying around. Ulrich frowned at the photo, regardless of the happy memories.

"What do you think your life would've been like without Lyoko?" Aelita then asked, still focusing on petting Kiwi.

"Life without it?" Ulrich repeated. "Well, more boring I guess. Wouldn't have to sneak around after hours and try and get out of class every other day." He left it at that, but he knew there was so much more; too much to say it all.

He and Jeremy probably would've never been anything more than acquaintances, let alone friends.

Odd might not even have still been there, given his initial opinions on Kiwi and wanting him gone.

And then Yumi... He didn't even want to know what would've happened with her. Would they have become friends? Stayed as they'd been?

Been something more?

He almost choked at the last thought and felt his face turn red. He stared back down at his desk again, towards the photo. He felt his gaze go over to Aelita's face in the picture, a smile partially obscured by the card she had up from whatever game they'd been playing.

"What about you?" he asked, then turned to her face. "How would your life be?"

She went quiet, wearing a thoughtful expression, then stopped petting Kiwi and pushed him aside, much to the dog's dismay. "Different in more ways than I can count,"

She let out a wistful sigh and closed her eyes. But what surprised Ulrich most of all, was that when she opened them again, a smile returned to her lips as well. "But I think it all worked out for the best, given the circumstance."

"Huh?"

"My father built the supercomputer for a reason, Ulrich: to escape from whoever his 'enemies' were. Even if he hadn't built it, those men in black still would've found us, one way or another. Just like they did when they took my mother," she frowned at the memory. "And then who knows what my life would've been life: maybe it would've all worked out just fine, and I would've had a normal life. But maybe I would've lived a life of fear and in hiding. Or worse,"

Ulrich stared at her, his pen twirling in his hand, and a look of slight awe on his face. Here was a girl who'd been through so much in her life, and she still managed to find a positive in the outcome.

"You've given this a lot of thought," he noted after another beat of silence. He felt dumb saying that, of course she had, it encompassed a part of her life that she could never get back. "I'm not sure I could ever see it like that,"

Aelita shrugged. "I can't change any of it, no return to the past could ever change it, even if I wanted to." Much to Kiwi's dismay, it was this time that Aelita scooted him off her lap. "I don't see any reason to dwell on the lost possibilities at this point. Yes, I lost my family, and I've accepted that. But this entire ordeal has given me a second—potentially better—one."

"Second family?"

"Of course. Odd's a great, if a little annoying cousin, and you and Yumi are the best siblings I could ever ask for," Aelita said, another smile creeping on her face.

Ulrich's thoughts drifted to his own family only for a moment.

Aelita was right, this one they'd forged was definitely preferable.

"Hey, wait a sec. What about Jeremy? You didn't mention him," Ulrich pointed out. The squeak Aelita let out at that was both adorable, and extremely satisfying.

"I'll uh... let you know when we figure that out," Aelita stammered, her face turning a broght red. Ulrich cackled. "Don't you have more physics work to do?"

"Oh no you don't! You never let up on me and Yumi, it's only fair you get it back!" He grinned wickedly. "Besides, from what I hear, older brothers are supposed tk guve their siblings hell about everything."

"Ulrich Micheal Stern, you are terrible and I take back ever nice thing I've said about you,"

* * *

 **I realize this is mega uneelated to the last one, but it's like 1:30 in the morning and I'm procrastinating on my research paper draft.**

 **Oh yeah, and I got accepted into college. *Insert party noises here***

 **Anyways, I may make this just fun oneshots between Ulrich and Aelita? Would anyone like that? Not updated super frequently, but since the world needs mlre brotp content with them, I'd do it.**

 **You can leave ideas to if you want. Nothing romantic between the two, but fun stuff, headcanons and such. I've got a fee ideas already, but given how bad my writersblock has been lately, anything is appreciated.**

 **I dunno. What do you think?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Idea suggested by: Evil Hero Malicious Edge**

 **Set early in season 2.**

* * *

PE was one of the few classes Ulrich felt he thrived in. Instead of being cooped up in a dreary classroom and being forced to try and memorize useless facts about science or history, he could stretch his legs, quite literally. Where he fell in academics, he rose in athletics.

He felt no small amout of satisfaction at being able to dominate his peers in the various activities Jim presented them.

At least, he did for most. As for the less athletically inclined...

" _Belpois! Get that confangled machine out of my sight before I take from you! If I don't see you doing something physical in the next three seconds... well, I don't know what I'll do but you won't like it!_ "

...Ulrich was more than content to let them keep to themselves, for their own safety more than anything.

It was a bit of a 'free day' in phys ed today. Any athletic activity that they could do on the field was available. The whole class was scattered across to do whatever they felt would be fun.

As for Ulrich, his attention was immediately caught by the soccer balls scattered by one of the goals. He almost immediately went for one of them and began to bounce it and show off. He got it up to his shoulders before he felt someone's eyes on them. He let the ball fall back down before he turned to meet whoever it was.

He was surprised to find Aelita was the one staring at him. Or rather, she was staring at the ball.

Ulrich bent down to pick said ball up. "Oh. What's up?" He asked.

She shuffled on her feet awkwardly. "I'm... I guess I'm just not entirely certain of what to do?" She'd only been here for a few weeks, and while she was starting to become acquainted with people outside their group, she was still finding it hard to fit in. "I can go find Odd instead if you-"

"No, you're fine. I'm just surprised not to see you with Jeremy. You've been kinda sticking to him like glue," he smirked at her confused expression. "It's another figure of speech, Aelita."

"Oh," she breathed out. She was silently thankful she didn't have to wonder how glue came into her friendship with Jeremy. "Well, there's a lot I still need to learn about Earth, and Jeremy's a great teacher for a lot, but uh... I'm not sure he's the person I should be asking about these kinds of things." To demonstrate her point, she motioned to her left towards the track. Ulrich had to try not to laugh at the skght.

Jeremy was begrudgingly trudging across the track at an almost snail level pace, and the expression he had was absolutely priceless.

"Fair enough," Ulrich admitted, struggling to keep any laughter from getting out. He shook his head with a chuckle and looked down, his attention returning to the ball he was holding. "You know how to play?" He asked, motionjng to the ball with his eyes.

She gave him a look that screamed 'Really?'

"Right, dumb question..." he mumbled. She was definitely beginning to pick up on the finer points of sass, whether she realized it or not, and Ulrich wasn't sure if he found it hilarious or terrifying. He shook his head. "Rephrase: do you want to know how to play?"

"Er, play what exactly?" She asked.

Ulrich blinked at her for a moment, having to remind himself who he was talking to. "Ok, well... god, how do you even explain that? How much do you even know about sports?"

"Only a little bit. There was so much to research to do about Earth life while I was still on Lyoko that I didn't give it as much time as I would've liked," she admitted, frowning slightly.

He ran a hand through his hair, nodding. "Ok, ok... so uh, god I guess you're gonna need the basics first. Ok, let's start with this." He set the ball on the ground. "This is a soccer ball, which we use to play soccer. The goal of the game-" he stopped for a split second to cringe at his accidental pun, "-is to get the ball into that goal over there," he explained, pointing to the goal not too far from them.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Aelita said, nodding as she absorbed the information.

Ulrich smirked at her naivete. "Right, it sounds easy, but there's a catch: you can't use your hands to do it. You have to use your feet to guide the ball to your opponents side, and then kick it it."

"You can't use your hands at all?"

"Not unless you're the one protecting the goal anyway. Or if you need to throw the ball back in I guess, but that's different," he chuckled at her stunned face. "I had the same reaction when I started playing too. It's not as bad as it sounds. Here, you wanna try kicking it in the goal?" He walked a bit closer to the goal and set the ball down in front of it.

"Er... sure, I guess," Aelita answered hesitantly. Seeming very unsure, Aelita went behind the ball, staring down the goal with a confused look.

"Yeah, just try to kick it in," Ulrich encouraged from beside her. She gave a forceful nod, then reeled her leg back before kicking the ball as hard as she could...

...Which sent the ball flying towards one of the posts holding the goal. She let out a squeak as the ball bounced off of it and soared over her head, landing a few feet behind them. It bounced a few more times, then rolled back before coming to a complete stop. Aelita, lowering her hands that she's used to guard her face, gave a sheepish expression.

"That was pretty terrible, wasn't it?"

He laughed. "That was better than some first attempts I've seen. I remember one kid I once saw try and kick the ball and it ended up hitting the coach in the-" He glanced at Jeremy nearby and thought better of sharing that particular detail. "Uh... well, it hurt him a lot anyway," He trailed off and laughed awkwardly, trying to ignore the confused expression she was now giving him. "A-anyways, it wasn't bad for your first try, really,"

"You don't have to try and make me feel better about it, Ulrich,"

"No, really. Everyone starts somewhere, and there are worse places to start off than where you are," Ulrich encouraged with a gentle smile. He'd seen worse in his time. At least her issues seemed easily fixable. She smiles back at him, then went over and grabbed the ball, her silent way of saying she was willing to try again. "Alright, first of all, you gotta be careful of your foot when you're kicking it..."

And that was how Ulrich spent his free time in phys ed that day. He didn't spend it how he'd initially planned, running around with his classmates playing an intense match of soccer, but rather, doing the thing he hated most: teaching and educating. He'd laugh at it later, but he didn't regret it.

By the time class was ending, Aelita has successfully managed to get three goals in a row (And one time of accidentally hitting Jeremy in the fact with the ball, but that was good enough to count as something extra special in Ulrich's eyes!)

* * *

 **Poor Jeremy, can't catch any breaks around here, now can he?**

 **Sorry this took awhile, but I did say I'd only be occasionally updating it. I've been distracted by the Danganronpa series anyways so...(I desperately wanna write something for it but I keep back pedaling on all my idea, someone send help)**

 **Leave any idea for this in a review, I'd love to keep this going!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Idea suggested by: theLoverofAllThings**

 **Set in season 4**

* * *

"Aelita?"

"Yes, Ulrich?"

"How long have we been here?"

"Approximately 45 minutes."

Ulrich let out a groan and fell back against his back onto the ice. Digital ice, that was, as he was currently stuck on Lyoko's Ice Sector on watch duty with Aelita. It had been requested by Jeremy, who'd said the superscan needed maintenance. Aelita could listen for pulsations the old fashioned way of course, but both of them said they'd feel much better about it if someone was with her should XANA rear his ugly mug—or Williams, which he wasn't really sure which was uglier at this point. And given the track record, it was likely to happen.

Ulrich had foolishly volunteered for the job, and he was beginning to regret every second of it.

" _'The superscan only needs some tuning' he said. 'It shouldn't take that long at all' he said_ ," Ulrich let out a quiet grumble, covering his face with his hands. "This is the last time I let you two convince me on these things." He knew it probably wouldn't be, but it made him feel better telling himself that.

Aelita, sitting in the lotus position beside him, cracked an eye open to look at him. Shaking her head with a laugh, she looked up towards the sky. "Jeremy, how's the maintenance going? I think Ulrich's about ready to die of boredom,"

"He's gonna have to endure it for a little bit longer," Jeremy at least had the decency to sound apologetic as he crackled from above. "I've gotta make sure that this runs as well as it can. We wouldn't want to get caught off guard simply because the superscan was a bit too slow,"

"And how long is that gonna take you?" Ulrich asked, already dreading the response.

"Uh... about another half hour at least. Sorry, Ulrich!" Jeremy went quiet at that, and Ulrich let out another groan.

"God, I never thought being on Lyoko could be so _boring!_ " He whined, sitting up again.

"Would you rather XANA try to throw me into the Digital Sea again?" Aelita asked dryly.

"Yes—I mean no, of course I don't want that!" He quickly added at her frown. It was a pain to have to stop from happening, and the last thing he wanted was for his friends to be in danger. "I just wish we had _something_ to do other than just sit around."

"Better than having to run for our lives."

"I know, I know, I just-"

"No, you're restless, I get it." She let out a sigh and adjusted into a more comfortable sitting position. "I forget that spending long amounts of time on Lyoko like this without any action isn't something you're used to."

He blinked at her. Oh, that was right. It felt so long ago now, but this used to be Aelita's daily life. Stuck on Lyoko all by herself for hours on end with only XANAs monsters to keep her busy when Jeremy was too busy to talk. He'd never really thought about it before, he'd almost entirely forgotten about it actually, but it must've been incredibly lonely for her.

"How'd you live like this everyday?" He couldn't help but ask, a look of awe on his face. Surely she had to have gotten sick of it.

She chuckled at his expression. "It's not as if I had much choice," she reminded him. She then put a hand to her chin in thought. "It wasn't as bad as it seems now. As far as I knew then, I was just a high functioning AI. I didn't know what I was missing out on; monitoring Lyoko was all I knew, and I was fine with it, especially knowing what Jeremy was working so hard on. Not to mentioned I could research about Earth in my free time, and lord knows I never ran out of search material when it came to that topic."

She shrugged. "And it's not as if it was all so lonely. I got to talk to Jeremy every day when we worked on my materialization, and you all popped in when you could to talk. Overall, it wasn't bad for what it was. I would never got back to it for a multitude of reasons, but it wasn't unbearable."

"Huh..." she always seemed to surprise him with her perspective on everything on everything that'd happened in her life. He'd have to ask her how she could stay so positive all the time one of these days. He was about 90% sure he'd be way more bitter than she was, had their roles been reversed.

"But enough about that!" she suddenly said, standing up and dusting the invisible dust off herself. She smiled down at him as she stretched her arms above her. "C'mon, you said you were bored, and now I've though of something to do!"

"Wait, what?" he asked, already standing up. His legs felt a little fuzzy, was it even possible for your limbs to fall asleep while on Lyoko? Maybe it was all mental. "What are we gonna do? Fight each other?" It was a joke question, but he'd honestly be up for it at this point.

"No, though I would like to see how you fight with one of your sabers on of these days, if you don't mind. Might come in handy, you never know," she requested. He nodded. "What I had in mind was more of a race: you and me, no vehicles, to the nearest Way Tower."

A beat of silence passed between them. And then Ulrich burst out into a loud laughter that almost made him him double over.

Aelita wasn't impressed. "What's so funny about that?" she asked, arm folded across her chest indignantly.

"I just... you-" he took a breath to collect himself, having to put a hand in front of his mouth to stop him from smiling. "It's just... Aelita, I've seen you run before. No offense, but you're not exactly an Olympian sprinter. And I just- Another chuckle escaped his mouth. "A race between me and you, without the vehicles? No way,"

"What, afraid you'll lose?" she asked, a smug smirk having come over her expression. Well, he couldn't turn down an invitation like that, now could he?

"Of course not," he returned her look with a confident grin of his own. He moved to stand near her for their makeshift starting line. "But why the sudden interest?"

"Well, you're bored and we may as well check all the sectors anyway, just in case." She explained simply with a wink. "So, are you ready?"

He took a starting position. "You betcha." He grinned, he'd give her a race alright. A one sided one perhaps.

Her smirk didn't fade as she didn't move, standing as normal beside him. "Alright then. On your mark, get ready... GO!"

"Super Spr- huh?!" There was a flash of pink beside him, blinding him for a moment. When he looked to his right, Aelita was no longer standing there. Rather, she was flying there, pink angel wings spread out behind her.

SHe flew ahead. "What? I never said it was a _foot_ race, did I?" She laughed as she looked ahead. "Keep up if you can, Ulrich!" she called back.

He was stunned for a moment. "Oh that is so not- argh! Super Sprint!" He took off in a streak of yellow to catch up with her.

She was SO on after a stunt like that!

* * *

 **A bit shorter and messier than I intended, but I wanted to get something out. Been a little burned out on CL, Danganronpa has completely consumed my life honestly, but I don't wanna leave this completely dormant. Hopefully the Code Lyoko spark hits me again soon so I can focus more on this fic and other possible oneshots.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Set: post series**

* * *

He finds them in the rec room. He'd just wanted to see if anyone there wanted to play some foosball or something. The room is empty, he finds out, sans a pair sitting in front of the tv with controllers in hand. The game on screen is paused and not one he recognizes. He hears the conversation between them drop as the door opens, heads jumping back to look at him. He swallows and feels his face scrunch up for a split second.

Aelita is hanging out with William.

Again.

"Oh." William lets out. A moment of silence passes between the three, long and extremely uncomfortable. His initial idea seemed a lot less appealing now.

Ulrich took a step back. "I'll just go-"

"No, don't. I was..." William glanced back at the controller in his hands and sighed. He stood up and placed it on the tv stand, then shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "I was just about to head out anyways."

"William..." Aelita started, breathy as she sighed.

He raised a hand and silenced her. "Don't." He said. They shared a look with one another, one that he wasn't privy to the meaning to. William gave a ghost of a smile and nodded at her. "See you around." He moved towards the door, stopping for a moment in front of Ulrich. "Ulrich." He said curtly.

"William." Ulrich said back. They stared at one another for a moment until Ulrich stepped out of the way of the door frame to let him out. The older boy stalked out without another word. Ulrich watched until he disappeared around a corner.

Another sigh brought his attention back into the room. "Ulrich..."

"What? It's not like I made him leave." He frowned. It wasn't his fault William decided to book it upon seeing him, not that he was complaining that he'd done so.

"He knows how you feel about him; how all of you feel about him," Aelita responded, turning back around on the couch. "None of you hide it well."

He scoffed. "Yeah, well maybe that's because we aren't trying to." He folded his arms across his chest and glanced back out the door. "He knows what he did."

"Yes, he's very well aware of that face, Ulrich. You don't need to remind him every second of every interaction with him," she replied evenly. She hit a button on the controller that sent the game back to the main menu. It's cheerful techno electronic music, he noted, felt extremely unfitting. She seemed to agree, as she stood up from the couch and hit the power button on it, sending the room back into that ever-so-uncomfortable silence.

...He wished she'd kept the music on.

He moved towards one of the chair in the room and sat in it, it's back in front of him as he rested his arms on it and leaned forward. "I didn't say anything about that," he protested.

"That's not what your face said." She turned to him, one knee tucked under her. He rolled his eyes. She was looking too much into things; why was it that girls always did that? Yumi did that too and it drove him nuts.

"I just don't get why you're not in the same boat with the rest of us about him." He said.

The moments after William was finally freed and that they'd made sure XANA hadn't left any nasty tricks inside him (or taken something away again like he'd done before with Aelita), one thing was made painfully clear to him: he was not welcome in their group. It wasn't actually stated, but the looks they'd given him, the way they'd all treated him afterwards, including not inviting him to shut down the computer. How could they not after all he'd done to them?

Evidently, Aelita had disagreed. And he still didn't get it.

Ulrich's eyes narrowed at the memories. "He tried to kill us all the time. You especially," he reminded her.

She shrugged. "By that logic, you tried to kill us too."

He sputtered. "Hey, I wasn't in my body-"

"And so did Jeremy, too. And yet I don't see Odd shunning him for it." She continued as if he hadn't spoken.

"Well-"

"Oh, and let's not forget that I got caught and possessed by the Scyphozoa countless times. And that I then tried to kill you during every time that happened, and got pretty far in the last attempt with you in particular," she leaned back with a frown. "So that excuse doesn't quite cut it,"

"Those were different!" He argued. "Those weren't as easily preventable as his was! He was being cocky and stupid! You said you warned him not to go off on his own and he didn't listen!"

"As if none of us were the same way when we all started. I can think of several incidents where yours and Odd's egos ended up making things much harder than they had to be in the beginning, and sometimes towards the end too." He voice didn't raise in volume, yet there was an undeniable power to it that still made him feel like she was yelling at him. "Our difference was we had time to figure things out. We threw him into the deep end without being able to teach him how to properly swim first, Ulrich. He had no chance."

His brows furrowed. What she was saying made sense and yet...

"He still should've listened to you and Jeremy. Or run away from the Scyphozoa at least."

She gave a nod in aquiencense. "I'm not disagreeing with you on that. But think back to your first time on Lyoko; can you really say that you really acted much differently?" She never saw Ulrich on his first visit to Lyoko, but she'd heard the story before. "And take my word for it when I say trying to run from that... _thing_ , was much harder than it looked."

Ulrich could say nothing in response. He dropped his gaze to the floor.

Aelita hands fell into her lap. "I'm not trying to say that William didn't make a mistake; he did, and it was a big one, and it's one he will never forget about for the rest of his life. But I think he's paid enough for it as it is without you and the other needlessly twisting the knife." He watched as she then stood up from the couch and walked towards the door.

His throat felt dry. "How do you know?" He asked, swallowing in a vain attempt to make it feel normal again.

He hand fell just short of the know. "How do I know what?"

"That he'll never forget it. Or that he's 'paid' for any of it?" Ulrich elaborated. A heavy silence hung between them for what he knew was only seconds, yet felt like and eternity. Why did he have a feeling he wasn't going to like this answer?

She looked back at him, a familiar, haunted look in her eyes that made his heart sink. "Because I still can't forget what happened after every time the Scyphozoa caught me, and it was only for an hour at a time at most.," she pushed open the door. "And I can't imagine how much worse the feeling is after six months under XANA's control."

Ulrich couldn't even think up of a response before she pushed herself out of the room, leaving him alone in the rec room as the door swung shut with a loud bang behind her. He sat there for several minutes, feeling slightly numb.

No... wait... that was guilt he was feeling. About William of all people. He let out a groan and lowered his head onto his arms, still resting on the chair.

Why was it that things could ever be as simple they initially seemed in his life?

* * *

 **Ulrich and Aelita are still the BrOTP of this series, but William and Aelita post series is one I don't see get much attention. It's not a stretch to think she'd reach out to him once all is said in done in the series, especially given she was the only one sympathetic to his situation from what we saw.**

 **And of course, not everyone in the group is probably a fan of that.**

 **Also I don't care if it's canon or not, William and Aelita remember being possessed on Lyoko in some capacity and you can pry that headcanon from my cold dead hands.**

 **(If this was messier than previous chapters I wrote this in like, 3 hours at night so... sorry? But at least it's new content!)**


End file.
